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Planning: The One Simple Step in Ensuring Your Yearly Vacation

On January 31st Project:Time Off is hosting its first national “Plan for Vacation Day” encouraging Americans to declare their vacation days for the rest of the year…at the start of the year. National Plan for Vacation Day encourages families to sit down together and map out their vacation plans for the coming year. This is a great concept that we believe many timeshare owners embrace already.

Why is planning so important?

In our culture of packed schedules, hyper-connectivity and work martyrdom, American workers are in serious need of a break. But as a whole, Americans leave 658 million vacation days unused each year!

We understand the value of vacation time for our relationships, personal well-being, and professional success. Yet, 51% of Americans skip out on planning, which is the single-most important step workers can take to ensure they are using their vacation time each year.

The power of planning is evident. Individuals who plan are more likely to use all of their time off, take more vacation days at once and report greater levels of happiness in every category measured. In-depth research proves that the Americans who take time to plan ahead are happier with their health and well-being, their financial situation, their marriage, and even their overall mood. Research also shows that simply having something to look forward to—like a vacation—improves happiness.

Why don’t workers take time off?

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of employees report that they hear nothing, mixed messages, or discouraging messages about taking time off, which leads to them choose not taking any vacation. Yet, 80 percent of employees said if they felt fully supported and encouraged by their boss, they would be likely to take more time off.

It is clear that workers who plan reap the rewards:

51% of planners took all of their vacation time vs. 39% of non-planners.

69% of planners were more likely to take a full week of vacation time or more at a time vs. 46% of non-planners.

85% of planners report they are happier with their relationships with their significant other, compared to 72% of non-planners.

69% of planners, compared to 60% of non-planners, report being happy with their relationships with their children.

81% of planners say they are happy with their financial situation, compared to 71% of non-planners.

90% of planners are happy with their professional success, compared to 82% of non-planners.

It's time to start being intentional about how we spend our days. Americans need a wake-up call to take back their calendars and #PlanForVacation.

ARDA has supported, and will continue to support, this initiative – I encourage you to ask yourselves how you can engage with your owners to assist them with planning for their time off. Remember that happy owners are our industries best advocates.

Real ROI

By Howard C. Nusbaum, RRP, President & CEO ARDA

It’s already mid-January – how are your resolutions coming
along? If you’re anything like me, it may be better to take on a resolution
that won’t be painful and offers a big ROI: becoming more engaged in ARDA and
your industry.

Hopefully, you have seen the ARDA “Proud” ad, featuring
three strong actions: “Protect, Connect, and Affect.” These three simple words
stand for various ways ARDA can enhance both the overall industry community and
your personal career and business at the same time.

ARDA works to help enhance and protect our industry
through government affairs at the local, state, and federal level. As a member,
you participate in this important work through one of the many ARDA
advocacy-related committees.

Another key mission of ARDA is connecting each of you through meetings and
events. Helping us plan an educational forum or participating in a networking
event at Convention, Fall Conference, or a regional meeting are easy ways to
dive into a community of resources. It may be a journey that leads to a new
business partner or just the chance to share a best practice or even solve a
problem.

And finally, get your hands in the clay with us and actually
affect the industry you work within. Again, committees are a great
starting place, as are various volunteer opportunities with the AIF or a
similar outreach program. I encourage you to be selfish and have a vested interest—be
involved in a way that helps your business, fills a need, plugs a hole, or just
rounds out your career.

So, in 2017 become more involved in ARDA and see a great
return on your investment of time. Start today by registering for ARDA World in
New Orleans registration opened December 1. Happy New Year!

What Is “Expensive?”

By Odilia Guiant, Senior Vice
President, ResortCom International

If you are like most
developers today, your goal is to deliver on the promise of your product,
provide great vacation experiences, and create brand loyalty. Your success is
based on and measuredby
customer satisfaction. A major factorin delivering and staying competitive inthe industry is the ability
to handle your customers with ease throughout their entire membership
lifecycle. Your infrastructure of systems and people is paramount in the daily
execution of every touch-point.

So, what system should you
choose? With so many software options in the marketplace, the decision becomes
a difficult one. What about servicing companies—do you use them or not?

Many developers task their
executives with finding a cost-effective solution that covers the majority of
the business needs today. More than a solution, however, the focus should be
geared toward finding a
“strategic partner” that can scale your business growth plans, who understands
your priorities and the demands of the vacation industry.

Mega-hospitality giants may
rely on in-house IT departments to develop and maintain customer engagement
systems, while small- and mid-size companies often reach out to third party
providers to shore up portions of their platform. A viable vendor should be
able to provide a suite of components and/or the entire system as a solution.

Ultimately, great emphasis
should be placed on finding a partnership and collaboration rather than
engaging a third party vendor who simply provides the services requested. And
sometimes, cheaper is not always better.

To gain more knowledge on making
the right expense choices and to learn about choosing the right partner and
building and maintaining relationships with them be sure to read the full
article in the November/December 2016 edition of Developments.